Dutch gov't says its main website attacked

AMSTERDAM (AP) -- The Dutch government says its main website has been periodically inaccessible in the past day due to a coordinated cyberattack.

Spokesman Robert Wester said in an emailed response to questions Wednesday that the attack began late Tuesday evening and got worse Wednesday morning. It consisted of an unknown person or persons trying to flood government computer servers with so many requests that they would become unreachable for regular traffic.

Wester could not say whether the attack was linked to the arrest in Barcelona last month of a 35-year-old Dutch man suspected of participating in attacks on the Swiss-British anti-spam watchdog group Spamhaus.

The government of the Netherlands is seeking extradition of the suspect, identified under Dutch privacy laws by his initials, S.K.